Viqueen sophomore Karly Joslyn slides safely around the tag of the Eagleville catcher. (T-G Photo by Jimmy Jones) [Click to enlarge]

The Community Viqueens opened their District 9-A game with visiting Eagleville like a house afire, scoring four runs on four hits to give freshman pitcher Brittany Haynes an early lead to work with, and then managed to score only four more to fall 15-8 in blustery conditions.

The Lady Eagles scored four in the third and six in the fourth, aided by six combined errors in the two innings, to seal the Viqueens' fate.

"Brittany continues to pitch well enough to win games," Community coach Libby Frost said. "I know that it is a familiar theme, but we simply cannot continue to give the other team five or six outs in an inning and expect to win no matter how well we pitch."

The Lady Eagles were somewhat suspect in the field as well, committing seven errors, but made up for it with some timely hitting at opportune moments.

The Viqueens had several well-hit balls that went right at Eagleville fielders to add to an already frustrating night.

"We did show some improvement in this game as far as hitting the ball hard and the kids played hard the whole game," Frost said. "We were much more focused and we never showed any signs of quitting. I was pleased with that.

"No loss is easy to take, but playing hard for seven innings even though we weren't at our best makes it a little easier to stomach."

Amber Woods and Corrieann Hickerson had two hits apiece with Hickerson plating four RBI to lead Community. Karly Joslyn added an RBI double and scored a run.

Haynes pitched seven innings, striking out six, while allowing two free passes and a hit batsman.

Community travels to Clarksville for tournament play this weekend.